Stillers-Bears Postgame Analysis and Grades

September 20, 2009 by Still Mill

Bears 17, Stillers 14 ���game #2

Bears 17, Stillers 14, ����. Sep. 20, �2009 ����Game #2

Stillers-Bears Postgame
Analysis and Grades

The
Stillers slopped n� slathered their way all afternoon long, and pissed away
what should have been a rather easy win with a incredibly overall shoddy
performance en route to a 17-14 come from ahead loss.� Stupid penalties, missed FGs,
a dropped TD pass, softee coverage, and softee defense all combined to conspire
for the loss.�

Grades:

QB:�
Ben misfired deep on his 2nd pass, but then was on fire in the opening
drive, marching the offense 92 yards for a TD.��
Things cooled off after that.� He
misfired way high on 3d & 10 midway in the 2Q.� He had the 2Q INT, although he was hit as he
threw, which caused the INT.� In the 3Q,
he held the ball waaay too long and was sacked.� Probably his worst play of the game was the
3d & 8 on the Chico
11 midway in the 4Q.� A blitz created
pressure up the gut, and Ben quietly took a 9-yard sack, resulting in a much
longer FG that was just wide left.� In this
situation, with the Stillers up by 7 and just about salting the game away, it�s
OKAY to simply fling the ball through the goalposts and line up for the 28-yard
FG, rather than taking a gargantuan loss on a sack.� Ben should have had a game-winning TD pass to
his credit with 3:29 remaining, but Holmes dropped the ball.���� B

RB:�
Parker started and had a far better day than last week�s woeful output,
although it wasn�t a huge day.� He
finished with a modest 47 yards on 14 carries.�
He showed a lot more churn and drive than last week, and ripped off runs
of 11, 13, and 6 yards.� ��

Mendenhall saw
some PT and had 3 rushes for 39 yards, the biggie coming on a 39-yard jaunt
that set up the 3Q TD.� He also had a
strange, but effective, RAC on a short dumpoff.�
Mendy fell as he caught the ball in the flats,
and looked doomed for a 1-yard loss.� He popped
up, though, and reversed field and managed to gain 13 yards out of
nothing.�

Moore had 2 carries for 13 (1 good run was
for 15 yards), and 3 grabs for 15, and again a clutch RAC for a 1D.� �����Parker:�
B�� �Mendy: B+�� Moore:�
A-�

FB: Summers played some and did
little.�� He had a shoddy block on a toss
sweep early on that netted minus-2 yards.�
He was simply collapsed like a pop can on a lead block in the 2nd
series.�� C

WR:�
Holmes supposedly wants to be considered an elite receiver, but
regressed badly today with an overall substandard performance. �He had 5 grabs for 83 yards, but the stat
sheet doesn�t show the drops and boners.�
He dropped an out midway thru the 2Q.�
He dropped another out on a rollout play at 11:41 3Q.� He slipped off his cut and had a pass clang
off his hands on an in-route with 5 min. left in the game.� And, of course, he dropped a TD pass in the
end zone on a challenging, but hardly difficult, over-the-shoulder catch on a
3d & 2 at 3:29 4Q.� Very piss
poor.�

Ward led
the team with 6 grabs for 57 yards.� He
dropped a bubble screen pass on a ball that was sailing high and wide; a much
tougher catch, actually, than Holmes� dropped TD.�

Wallace had
2 grabs for 13 yards, but made 2 mistakes that won�t show up on any stat
sheets.� On the INT in which Ben was hit
as he threw, Wallace was slow to look for the ball and even slower to react,
and never was a factor was far as trying to bust up the pick.�� Less glaring to the casual observer, but enormously
critical, was his RAC work late in the 4Q.�
Wally ran a crisp out, leaving the DB slipping DOWN to the turf.� Wally caught a well-thrown pass, and at that
point, I�m thinking 6 points.� Instead,
Wally did this slow-assed, elongated loop to the turn upfield, which took about
4 seconds, therby giving the fallen DB plenty of time
to get up, dust himself off, and then make the stop 2 yards short of the
sticks.�� The next play, on 3rd & 2,
was the Holmes dropped TD pass.�� If
Wally doesn�t dance and act like he�s walking on eggshells, it�s at least a 1st
down and possibly 6 points.�

Limas Peed,
who peed the bed as a toddler and apparently still
does, did not dress.� Sean McDonald was
no factor whatsoever.� ���Holmes:�
C��� Ward:� B+��
Wallace:� B-���� McDonald: Inc

TE:�
A week after having the big 8-catch game, Miller had a paltry 3 grabs,
for 27 yards.�� Depressing
that this guy was demoted back to valve-dump status.�� He helped spring some good runs with solid
blocking.�� Spaeth did little, but he did
catch the Bears by surprise with his 1-yard TD catch on 4th & 1.�� David Johnson played in some 3-TE sets and
did very, very little.� ����Miller:�
B+��� Spaeth:� B-���
Johnson:�� B-�

OL: The line played okay, although
facing a defense missing Urlacher, you expected more
consistent ground production.� There were
some nice runs, although there were also a plethora of negative and zero yard
rushing plays.� Starks lazily allowed his
man to get inside and hit Ben as he threw, which caused the lone INT.� Essex was
too slow on his pull on the last play of the 1Q, resulting in a 5-yard loss by
Parker.� �Hartwig, who was blocking NOBODY, was sluggish
and feeble in reacting to an inside blitz, and the blitzer
got to Ben for the 9-yard sack that preceded the 1st missed FG.� Willie The Colon lazily allowed his man (Harris)
to slash inside and haul down Moore on the OTHER side of the line for a 2-yard
loss at 3:39 4Q.�� A really
lazy, pitiful play.�� I get sick
to my stomach watching such a lazy, assholic, asshumping kind of effort on a play in which all The Colon
had to do was simply shield his man for about 1/2 second.�� Kemo was called for a hold on Ben�s
INT.�� The Colon committed his weekly false start.��

There were
some good plays.� Essex, Colon, and Kemo combined
on a crips 11-yard run by Parker on the 2d
series.� Colon and Kemo had good blocks on Mendy�s 39-yard jaunt.�
For the most part, the Stillers had far better success running to the
right, which means some praise should go to Essex and The Colon.��

Both sacks
were the result of Benji sitting and holding the ball far longer than the
situation dictated.���������� B�

DL:�
The line played okay, although the seemed to sag and tire in the
4Q.� �The pocket push was totally nonexistent and
they did nothing to get into Gay Buttler�s throwing
lanes or push the pocket.� Kirschke had a
nice hustle play on a screen to Forte in the 2Q.� Fat Casey had a rare hustle play, making the stop
7 yards downfield on a bubble screen in the 4Q. �Rookie Ziggy Hood saw a lil�
bit more PT and had an assist (a half-sack).��
��B-� �

LB:�
A really mediocre evening from the crew that should be leading the
way.��

Harrison had 6 solos, plus a FF that was recovered by the Bears on
that final drive.�� However, he took a
stupid, needless, no-brained personal foul penalty by hitting the QB late --
and on the knees, no less -- on a 1st down at the Bears own THREE yard line,
giving them room and life that culminated in a 97-yard TD drive.�� He created a flush of Buttler
by beating Pace in the 3Q.� He also had a
good string of a running play early in the 4Q.�

Farrior led
the team with 7 solos, but was exposed numerous times and once again shows
blatant, obvious signs of slowing down and regressing badly.�� He weakly failed to fill the hole on
Peterson�s 15-yard run up guard in the 2Q.�
He feebly whiffed on a sack in the 2Q, on a 3d & 3 in which Timmons
was flagged for a tickytack hold.�� Supposedly The Winged God of LB Coverage, he was late on the TD pass in the
2Q.� He whiffed on another sack on a 3d
& 3 in the 4Q, which was completed for a 13-yard gain.� Farrior slipped and was clumsy on the 3d
& 4 curl to Hester late in the 4Q, which netted 5
yards.�� Very, very piss poor.��

Fox started
in place of Timmons, although Timmons saw a lot of PT.�� Fox totally lost the TE in the 4Q, and the
WIDE open TE hauled in the pass for a 29 yard catch.� Timmons tipped a pass off a blitz in the 3Q
on 3d & 5, and also had a good bustup on 3d & 3 in the 1Q.�� He was flagged for a very cheap, tickytack �holding� call on 3d & 3 in the 2Q, which
aided the long Chico TD drive.��

Rabidly entering
into the lore of Jason Gildong was none other than LaMarr Woodley, who, for the 2nd week in a row, stood
around and did almost NOTHING the entire game.�
Despite never leaving the field on the 56 plays the Bears ran
from scrimmage, Woodley (hold your laughter) finished with ZERO solos and 1
assist.�� He rarely ever put pressure or
harassment on the QB.�� Only once, in
fact, he did, when he bullrushed the RT and pressured
Buttler on the 1st Bear play of the 3Q.� Otherwise, he was a big, fat, ZERO, doing
nothing.�� Woodley was clumsy and then� was sealed on
Hester�s reversal of field after a bubble screen to the left; Woodley feebly
lost contain and allowed Hester to get wide (luckily the secondary stopped this
play for 2 yards.)��

DB:�
A really sorry, woeful effort by the secondary against such an average
QB.��

Ike was
soft, timid, and weak the entire game, including being beaten deep in the 3Q
but the QB chose to throw to the out.�
Gay was as well, so much so that Townsend had to be inserted at time to
alleviate the burnings.� Gay was torched
on a deep out on 3d & 9 in the 2Q, but the pass was too high.� Gay had a pitiful read on a short out to Knox
later in the 2Q, good for 16 yards.�

Clark was beaten in the EZ by Olsen in the 2Q, but Olsen slipped
and fell.��

Carter made
a good stick and stop of Buttler on a 2d & G
scramble for a 1-yard loss.� But on the next
play, he softly gave up a TD pass.�� Late
in the 4Q, Carter was picked on again and gave up the tying TD.�

Facing such
an average QB who�d been victimized last week to the tune of 4 INTs, the
secondary allowed Buttler to riddle them by going 27
of 38, with at least 3 dropped passes.�� Very, very poor.���� ����Gay, Carter, and Ike:� D+ ������Townsend:�
B����� Clark:� B-�

Spec
teams:� Stupid, careless penalties on 3 different put
returns helped bog down the effort.� Ike was
flagged for a �personal foul� on the 1st punt.�
Bailey and then Ike were flagged for illegal blocks on returns that,
oddly, had ZERO amount of room for Logan
to run.�

Logan had little room to run; he did turn
up a nice 19-yard punt return midway 3Q.�
Logan
fumbled the final KO return, although with only 9 seconds left, it meant
little.� Logan also made a good stop on KO coverage on
the opening KO.�

Sepulveda
punted well and Bailey and Frazier led the way in coverage.��

The goat of
the evening was none other than Jeff Reed, who hooked 2 FGs
wide left in the 4Q to help snatch defeat from victory.�� You�d think the nimrod would have ADJUSTED
after his 1st miss on the wet turf, but no, he did nothing to adjust and
hooked the 2nd one exactly as he hooked the first, with a slipping plant foot
too close to the ball.��� What a shitbag.��

Reed:� F�����
Rest of ST:�� B

OC:�
Arians continued his grab-bag quest with another sporadic offensive
performance.� It appears 13 or 14 points
is the max Arians can produce this season.�
With the rain coming on strong during the 2Q, Arians totally disregarded
it and kept calling for 1 pass after another.��
Urlacher was out, as well as a starting D-lineman,
yet Arians never once committed to TAKE ADVANTAGE of these key missing links.��

We saw the return
of the typical WASTED timeout after Mendy�s long run,
which quite apparently was caused by the next playcall taking too long to get
to the huddle.�

The scheme
I despised the most was after the Holmes slant set up shop with a 1st down at
the Chico 13,
late in the 4Q.� Arians, for no reason
whatsoever, pulls his TWO most reliable PLAYMAKERS, Ward and Holmes, off the
field and goes with this Neanderthal 3-TE set, which serves no purpose on the
13-yard line.� Worse, Arians calls a PASS
out of this formation.� Surprise, no one
is open !!���
Ben dumps the ball to Parker for a piddly
3-yard gain.�� This is fuking lunacy at its worst.�� Way back at the 13-yard line -- well outside
of plunging distance -- Arians inserts Matt Speath
and David Johnson and SITS DOWN his 2 Super Bowl MVPs, Hines Ward and Tonio
Holmes.�� What a tool.�� ���C-�

DC:�
Dick, ONCE AGAIN, managed to choke away a 4th quarter LEAD, something he�s
done with rabid regularity the past 10 games dating back to last season.�� Dick also managed to make Gay Buttler, the pissboy who threw 4
INTs last week, look like Dan Fouts, allowing Buttler to CARVE up Dicks� vaunted defense with a 27 for 38
passing effort that saw a few dropped passes to boot.�� You�ll see no mention of ANY of this in the Pittsburgh newspapers, of
course, because, after all, Dick is the patron saint of defensive
football.�

The way the
defense got carved up on the long, 97-yard march was sickening.� There was ZERO pressure on the QB and Buttler was just picking Dick�s defense apart, like
shooting fish in a barrel.�� Not only was
there ZERO pressure, but receivers were continually WIDE open in their
patterns.�

Then there
was the easy 9-play TD match in the 4Q to tie the game, in which Dick�s defense
offered no more resistance than a French Scout troop.�� And the winning FG march, which Dick softly
allowed the Bears to crisply march 41 yards in 7 plays.� �

We�ll never
know, because of the chickenshit Pittsburgh media,
why Ryan Mundy wasn�t used more at safety, what with Carter being victimized
AND injured (bad leg) throughout the evening.�

Dick had 10
(TEN) days to prepare for the Bears, and this was the
best he could offer??��� Very, very
little pass pressure.� Receivers
roaming WIDE open all over the field.�
�A mediocre QB
just picking apart the defense like a skeleton drill.�� 10 points given up in the
4Q when the Stillers were up by 7.���
Very, very pitiful.��� As I�ve stated long before, it�s high time
Dick retires.�� There isn�t a more
over-rated, more over blown, more over hyped coordinator in the entire
league.��� D.

HC:� Tomlin
allowed the team to lay an egg after the opening TD.� You could almost see the entire team let off
the gas after the rare early TD. �With 10
days to prepare against a team missing a superstar like Urlacher
plus a starting lineman, it was sorry how the offense played fiddle-faddle with the Bears for much of the evening.� It was equally sorry how the defense got
shredded and carved by such a pedestrian offense.� The rash of 7 penalties -- most of which were
assaholic
, careless flags -- was unacceptable for a club laden with
veterans.�� I was extremely puzzled by
the decision to SQUIB kick after Ben�s TD run in the 3Q.� The Bears had been flagged for offsides on
the PAT, meaning the KO would occur from the 35 rather than the 30.�� Rather than having Reed boot
it deep for a touchback, Tomlin ordered a squib kick, which was returned by the
dangerous Knox for 37 yards, although a hold negated the return.��

Overall, Tomlin did a poor job of preparation, in-game
adjustments, and keeping the gas on the pedal after the early lead.����� C�

Synopsis:�
A grisly, ugly, unforgivable loss.��
Armed with a 14-7 lead in the 4Q, the offense stalled on 2 deep drives;
the kicker missed 2 chippie FGs; and the defense,
which was soft and cheesy all afternoon, allowed both a long, tying TD drive as
well as a FG drive for the winning points.��
A rash of foolish, careless mistakes, ranging from moronic penalties to
a dropped TD pass to foolish sack-takes to reprehensibly soft coverage under
the shadows of our own goal posts, led to the defeat.�� �It�s
challenging enough to gain a playoff bye in the NFL without pissing away what
should have been a sure win.�� We can
only hope this grisly, unacceptable loss will be a wake-up call for the players
and coaching staff, and quickly.� �

(Still Mill
and Stillers.com -- when it comes to the analysis of the Pittsburgh Stillers, no one else comes
close�.)